Technology is in a constant flux. How do you see Juniper Networks fitting in this dynamic space?

The whole world is moving towards virtualizing all aspects of IT. From software, hardware to services, everything is moving towards virtualization, and most of it is further shifting to the cloud. Juniper Networks sits in a very interesting area here. Most of our apps reside on the cloud (both private and public), with mobile platforms being the primary medium of consuming these applications.

Today’s datacenters have to be transformed in order to handle the modern requirements of applications. This calls for an architectural revamp, so that all users consume the platform at all times and experience seamless performance. Second, with the growth in the number of datacenters, networking vendors like us also get the opportunity to integrate virtualization platforms withSDN and deliver an entire datacenter which is available through a single control plane.

We are the people who transform datacenters. We build datacenters that can efficiently deliver low latency applications. We help service providers ensure they can launch 3G/4G services without latency, performance or quality hindrances. We build both mobile data backbones and mobile data backhaul networks. To top it all, we provide security at all these layers.

You took over as Juniper Networks’ India head recently. What have you been telling your partners since then?

We are a completely partner-centric company. We believe in improving our partners’ bottom lines through business and product innovation. We also strongly believe in doing more with less. Juniper Networks does not believe in over-distributing its products through hundreds of channel partners. We invest back in those who have invested in us, to make sure they get the best returns. Our Partner Advantage program, which was launched in 2012, currently supports 12,000 partners. It basically has been one of the most successful partner programs because of these reasons.

How do you see FY 2014-15 panning out for your partners?

The industry is continuing to grow and is expanding into newer sectors such as education, hospitality, and healthcare. We see huge scope for growth in these sectors with the advent of the new government. Additionally, we have built very aggressive plans for expansion in tier-2 and tier-3 locations. We have also planned a number of vertical-focused initiatives to enable the next level of growth in 2014-15. Today, we have got a total of 300-odd partners including 12 elite partners. We also aim to upgrade our partners’ skills by ensuring that they efficiently deliver new age solutions such as cloud and mobility to end-customers. We also ensure that their bottom lines are strong. It’s our commitment to keep their businesses healthy.

What learnings from the previous fiscal year came to play while crafting your new channel strategy and roadmap?

We are highly focused this year on ensuring that our partners align their resources to Juniper Networks’ strategy. Last year, a lot of partners faced business turbulence because of the bad economy. We are committed to make sure the health of their business is back in shape and that they grow with us rapidly.

How is Juniper Networks’ new marketing initiative, Market Access, shaping up and delivering?

Very well, actually. Through this program, we have tried to achieve more with partners in markets where we have limited presence; for example, tier-2 and tier-3 cities. Here, we work with these partners so that they can make more investments and work with Juniper Networks to develop that market. And we assess demands and come up with different kinds of marketing initiatives to help the partners.

We have built very aggressive plans for expansion in tier-2 and tier-3 locations. We have also planned a number of vertical-focused initiatives to enable the next level of growth in 2014-15.